Discusses a British primary headteacher's attempts to introduce collaborative decision making by establishing regular formal meetings, both as a whole staff and within age-related teams. Describes and interprets the varied, complex patterns of staff response. Teachers are more responsive to collegial leadership styles when they perceive that the…

Considers discussion-based parents' forums at two British secondary schools. Each school has attracted an elite group of white, middle-class professional women with limited decision-making power that remains unconnected to the wider parent body. It is difficult for controversial parental issues to be heard. (Contains 39 references.) (MLH)

Describes how undergraduate students (N=38), participating in a residential pilot community standards program, grappled with conflicting constructs of power and authority, and learned how to distribute power and authority in new ways. Proposes two interrelated conditions for promoting shared authority among students and student affairs…

Illustrates the way case stories can be used as a professional development tool for promoting collaborative leadership and creating pluralistic leaders in higher education--leaders who respond to and embrace the diversity within the community, staff, faculty, and administration. (EV)

The residents of Galiano Island, British Columbia, have used geographic information systems (GIS) to create a local information database that informs community decisions about sustainable use of forest land. The islanders' involvement with GIS promotes a democratic land-use planning process that is reasoned and well informed. (SV)

School business administrators must be both business managers and educators. As the school district's chief financial officer, the school business administrator must have strong communication and interpersonal skills. Spheres of involvement include working with school staff, parents, the district office, town officials and committees, vendors, and…

Examined why universities continue to confront organizational fit problems even as they move to more participatory leadership environments. A case study investigated an institution that had adopted servant leadership, focusing on four main themes: (1) emergence of a singular leadership approach; (2) assimilation of participatory leadership style;…

Styles of leadership which encourage leaders to share responsibilities and authority have been the subject of much recent interest. Initiatives, such as that for encouraging distributed models of leadership, are attracting much attention. Within this movement the head teacher is encouraged to work with staff, utilizing their expertise and…

This article examines and analyzes Semco, a company that changed the way it viewed and treated its workers for the better. It is the contention of Semco's CEO, that at most large corporations "everyone is part of a gigantic, impersonal machine, and it is impossible to feel motivated when you feel you are just another cog. Human nature demands…

The assessment of community needs was one of the key foundations of the Circles of Care planning effort. Grantees identified a range of needs at the child, adolescent, family, programmatic, and community levels. This information, along with an emphasis on the importance of each community's history and culture, served as an important guide for each…

Investigated the impact of a collaborative inquiry involving diverse teams of teachers, administrators, school board members, and parents. The teams collected and analyzed local data to make data-based decisions about improving teaching and learning. The collaboration helped teachers engage in a continuous improvement process that allowed them to…

In this article, the author proposes to describe some of the developments that have taken place in public education in American Samoa in the past few years. This has really been a period of rapid change and although many challenges remain, there has been considerable progress on several fronts. One of the fundamental organizational reforms that…

Embedded hierarchical relationships between children and adults constrain children's voice. For adults to support children's participation in decisions they need to learn new ways of working; to enable children to communicate their views, develop their ideas, make group decisions and take joint action. This article explores the different roles…

This paper reports on how prospective users may be involved in the design of entertaining educational computer games. The paper illustrates an approach, which combines traditional Participatory Design methods in an applicable way for this type of design. Results illuminate the users' important contribution during game development, especially when…

The article synthesizes research findings from studies examining how principals and teachers contribute to shared instructional leadership and the relationship of shared instructional leadership to teacher and student learning. Principals and teachers contribute to the leadership equation in each school in different ways, according to school…